WBZ performed its civic duty by including three independent candidates for governor in Tuesday's gubernatorial debate, but the three added little to the process. It's one thing to give everyone equal access in the early stages of the campaign, helping the independents get themselves known, make their views known, raise some money and perhaps gain some …
Continue reading Gubernatorial debate: too crowded for clarity
Forget the gaffes, and get to the issues. Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker reportedly referred to Fox TV reporter Sharman Sachetti as "sweetheart," and she and other women have taken umbrage. Massachusetts' National Organization for Women (NOW) has blasted his "sexist treatment of a female reporter." Baker said he "was kidding" and later apologized. Sounds …
The Democratic gubernatorial debates ended last night. Three decent, intelligent individuals with strong commitment to Massachusetts and public service. Notwithstanding Attorney General Martha Coakley's double-digit advantage in the polls, it is Treasurer Steve Grossman who has emerged as the most solid choice. Coakley has the advantage of superior name recognition, while Grossman has drawn the …
Democratic gubernatorial candidate state treasurer Steve Grossman has narrowed the gap between Attorney General Martha Coakley and him, but it's unclear if he can make up a remaining 12-point deficit in the last two weeks before the state primary. Right now, however, those same polls show Coakley holding a 23-percentage lead over Grossman among women voters, some …
Southie's traditional St. Patrick's Day breakfast was anything but traditional yesterday. A testament to the new Boston, a majority-minority city, the breakfast was hosted for the first time ever by a woman, a person of color, a Haitian-American, and a resident of Dorchester...all wrapped up in the energetic and charismatic persona of State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry. …
Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast: more love-in, less roast
Today's papers announced the latest entrant in the 2014 race for governor: a Tea Party challenger to Charlie Baker for the Republican nomination. Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury resident and newbie at electoral politics, runs a metal manufacturing company. His website has a family photo album and an issues list that starts and ends with eliminating Turnpike tolls. …
Continue reading 2014 Mass. gubernatorial primaries up for grabs
Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray has announced he won't be a candidate for governor or any other statewide office in 2014. We're thus spared the media obsession with his peculiar early morning driving accident in 2011, never explained to the satisfaction of many in the Commonwealth. And we can leave it to the court system, rather …
A WBUR poll this morning about who might run to fill John Kerry's Senate seat if/when Kerry becomes Secretary of State showed an overwhelming preference for Scott Brown over former Governor Bill Weld for the GOP nomination. A valedictory op ed by Senator Scott Brown in a recent Boston Globe shows why the decision shouldn't …
Nearly a year ago, I used the word “circling the drain” in writing about Deval Patrick’s inauspicious prospects for reelection. I’m not the only one whose premature assessments proved wrong. Patrick turned around his campaign. And, in the end, the voters of Massachusetts definitely preferred his message of optimism and his ability to build on …
Continue reading Deval Patrick: Basking in the afterglow of election victory is sweet but short
Nationally, angry voters pulled the lever for change, but here in Massachusetts a majority cast their ballots for optimism. Winners and losers weren’t defined just by the metrics however. Scott Brown, while not on the ballot, lost some sheen because Massachusetts voters turned their backs on candidates who, like Sean Bielat and Jeff Perry, claimed …
Continue reading Feeling blue while seeing red? Thoughts on other winners and losers
Marjorie Arons-Barron 